At the July 14th meeting, Executive Director Wolf told the Board that Attorney Karen Uchiyama has been issuing civil court subpoenas to compel persons’ attendance at Rent Board hearings under threat of civil penalties and contempt of court. Ms. Wolf had sent a
letter to Ms. Uchiyama letting her know that the Rent Ordinance does not authorize the use
of subpoenas to compel attendance and that civil subpoenas are limited to actions that are
filed in court. Ms. Wolf requested confirmation by July 24th that Ms. Uchiyama would stop
this practice, and agreed to let the Board know Ms. Uchiyama’s response.

On August 6th, Ms. Wolf received a letter from Ms. Uchiyama confirming that she would no
longer issue civil subpoenas for Rent Board hearings and stating that she had been misinformed about their use.

After discussion, the following motion was made, but failed:

MSF: To direct staff to contact the City Attorney for advice as to how to proceed with a referral to the State Bar. (Marshall/Mosbrucker: 2-3; Abe, Gruber
and Dandillaya dissenting)

After further discussion, the Board asked staff to continue to monitor Ms. Uchiyama’s compliance, talk to the City Attorney as to the Board’s options, and report back at a future meeting.”

We are seven of the eight Directors of the Koret Foundation Board of Directors, and have served alongside the eighth, Ms. Susan Koret, for decades. Today, we write withone voice to express our regret regarding the actions Ms. Koret has taken in filing litigation against her fellow members of the Koret Foundation Board of Directors as well asthe Foundation.

We are each honored to be a part of advancing the local, national and global work of the Koret Foundation. We are also proud of the fact that the Foundation has provided $500 million in grants to non-profit organizations, and the majority of our funding has been dedicated to supporting the vulnerable and disadvantaged, children, families and the elderly. Our purpose is and will remain to support Jewish organizations worldwide, and to improve the quality of life for all the residents of the Bay Area community.

Ms. Koret has voted in full support of 95% of the grant decisions the Foundation has made. We are dismayed that she is now suing in disagreement with these very same decisions. She now makes vicious and unfounded personal attacks on her colleagues.

We believe Ms. Koret is taking these actions in an aggressive attempt to take over the assets of the Foundation. Alarmingly, her behavior has also become increasingly confused and erratic, and it is clear that Ms. Koret is unable to fulfill her duties as a Director.

We, the undersigned, unanimously decided to file a cross-complaint in order to respond swiftly and accurately to Ms. Koret’s false allegations. It is our hope that this matter will be resolved quickly. In the meantime, we assure you that the important humanitarian work of the Koret Foundation will continue, despite the attempted disruption by Ms. Koret.

Another case that is also related to same-sex marriage rights — a challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA — will be heard the following day, on March 27, at the same time. That case is called United States v. Windsor.

In granting review to both marquee marriage equality cases exactly one month ago, the nation’s highest court set the stage for potentially landmark rulings on LGBT civil rights that promise to be the most eagerly-anticipated of the current court term. Rulings are expected by the end of June.

The legal issues at stake in the challenge to Prop 8, the controversial 2008 ballot measure that eliminated marriage rights for same-sex partners in California, are two-fold: first, whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman; and second, whether the proponents of Prop 8 have legal standing to litigate the case.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights filed the lawsuit in May 2009 on behalf two California couples who sought to marry: Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. They are represented by lead counsel Theodore B. Olson and David Boies. City Attorney Dennis Herrera intervened as a co-plaintiff in the case in August 2009, renewing San Francisco’s groundbreaking pubic sector legal advocacy for the broader societal interest to end marriage discrimination against lesbian and gay couples. At trial, Herrera and his legal team provided extensive evidence that state and local governments derive significant societal and economic benefits when same-sex partners enjoy equal marriage rights — and, conversely, that denying such rights inflicts grave injustices on the LGBT community that, in turn, harm government and society at large.

When the high court granted review to the case on Dec. 7, 2012, Herrera said: “The federal challenge to Prop 8 represents one of the most significant civil rights cases to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in decades, and I’m confident that the high court will reach a decision that reaffirms our Constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s argument calendar for March is published online here:

She’s wrong ’cause the SFPD’s handguns from SIG-Sauer (and others similar) are simple handguns and are not assault weapons.

Here’s the proof. Let’s say this SFPD officer drew his Grateful Dead-stickered gun before arresting somebody. People would say that the cop drew his gun or pointed his handgun at the suspect, something like that.

Right?

Click to expand

People would not say that the cop drew an “assault weapon,” would they?

Bingo.

Ergo, the simple police-issue handguns carried by the SFPD are not assault weapons even though they’d be covered under DiFi’s assault weapons ban legislation.

“USF School of Law Celebrates 100 Years in San Francisco – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to Speak at Convocation

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2012 — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will kick off a year-long celebration at the University of San Francisco School of Law, which is commemorating its 100(th) birthday and a century of providing a premiere legal education at the city’s first university.

Kennedy will deliver a keynote address during the public convocation on Wed., Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. inside St. Ignatius Church on the USF campus. Kennedy is a professor of environmental law at Pace University and co-director of that school’s Environmental Litigation Clinic. He was named one of Time magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his success in helping restore New York’s Hudson River.

“Our centennial celebration is about far more than longevity,” said Jeffrey Brand, dean of the USF School of Law. “It’s about one hundred years of offering an education with a conscience, and graduating top attorneys who empower the powerless and help change a world plagued by injustice. As we begin our second century in this magnificent city, we rededicate ourselves to our vital mission of educating for justice.”

Social justice is a cornerstone of the school’s identity. In 2011-12 alone, USF law students provided 22,000 hours of pro-bono legal work to underserved communities, and the school-sponsored seven free law clinics, including the Investor Justice Clinic where students represent investors in actions involving allegations of wrongdoing by securities firms or their employees, and the Child Advocacy Law Clinic in which students receive training and, under the supervision of the clinic director, represent abused, neglected, or abandoned children in child welfare proceedings.

The USF School of Law began on Sept. 18, 1912 on the corner of Market and 7(th) Streets in downtown San Francisco with three faculty and 39 students. Today, it has 40 influential legal scholars who teach 700 students on the USF Law School campus near Golden Gate Park. The school is proud to be one of the nation’s most diverse with nearly half of its law students identifying themselves as ethnic minorities, and 53% are women.

The USF School of Law is sponsoring a number of notable events during its year-long centennial celebration, including:

— Nov. 9: Public Interest Law Foundation Annual Auction and Award Ceremony honoring David Boies, chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner. This is a fundraiser to provide grants to law students working in unpaid public interest law jobs during summer break.

The University of San Francisco School of Law is located in the heart of one of the world’s most innovative and diverse cities. The law school pursues excellence in a humane, diverse, and intellectually vibrant learning community of outstanding teachers and scholars dedicated to training ethical professionals. Its diverse student body enjoys direct access to faculty, small classes, and innovative programming that educates students to be skilled and effective lawyers ready to practice law. Now celebrating its centennial year, the USF School of Law is ranked as one of the “Top 170 Law Schools” by Princeton Review and the 10(th) most ethnically diverse law school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. For more information, please visit www.usfca.edu/law.

Journalists interested in covering the Sept. 19 convocation, or any other centennial event, must register in advance by contacting Anne-Marie Devine at (415) 422-2697 or abdevine@usfca.edu.

Actually, our State Bar should have a DC-3 on standby so that its disaster team could more quickly parachute into places like Richmond CA, you know, just like D-Day, you know, When Disaster Strikes.

Actually, our State Bar wants people like attorney Nick Haney to call the whaaaaaaaaambulance, to complain about how the State Bar street team is just like the Waffen-SS. It sends a message to all the others.

Keep on keeping on, State Bar Disaster Team!

PS: Oh BTW, exactly zero people were hospitalized due to the latest Chevron refinery fire / explosion / incident. So the chances of any one person garnering “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from watching soot zoom up thousands of feet into the troposphere are, similarly, exactly zero.